The $4.4 billion Gordie Howe International Bridge is scheduled to open to passenger and commercial traffic at noon on July 27, six weeks after Washington asked for a delay and after Canada agreed to share revenue from the bridge and give the US government a role in certain toll changes.
The opening answers the immediate question that the editorial board of ENR raised on June 22: Why was a completed international crossing still not being used?
The Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority had said only that Canada and the United States needed time to resolve “outstanding issues,” while Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said the delay came at Washington’s request.
The terms announced as the basis for the opening were set out in a proposed agreement in principle between the US and Canadian governments. Canada agreed to make annual payments equal to 50% of net revenues related to bridges and crossings for the first 15 fiscal years of operations to an economic development fund established and controlled exclusively by the US government.
The bridge authority must also obtain U.S. consent to increase toll rates, including increases of more than 10 percent that would put tolls above comparable regional crossings.
The agreement explicitly says it does not change the 2012 Canada-Michigan Crossing Agreement or its ownership, governance and financial framework. Canada financed the bridge, the U.S. port of entry, the Interstate 75 interchange, and the acquisition of related Michigan land, while ownership is shared between Canada and Michigan.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said the bridge “has always been very important to our state,” adding that it will speed up auto production, lower costs, ease traffic and strengthen agriculture.
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The political dispute resurfaced before a July 24 ribbon cutting. Canadian officials scrapped plans for a joint ceremony with U.S. and Michigan representatives after President Donald Trump threatened 50 percent tariffs on a range of Canadian products and then held an event in Windsor without the U.S. delegation. Trump responded to Truth Social that the original bridge deal “doesn’t stand anymore” and said the US would get “50 percent of the benefit.”
Seen from the US side before completion, the Gordie Howe International Bridge carries its approach spans over the new Interstate 75 interchange toward the Detroit River. The project combined the 1.5-mile cable-stayed bridge with new U.S. and Canadian ports of entry and highway connections that went into service on July 27.
Photo courtesy of Bridging North America
The proposed agreement calls for the U.S.-controlled fund to receive half of net bridge and crossing revenues over 15 years. But his preservation of the 2012 framework conflicts with Trump’s claim that the original deal is no longer in place.
The first new Ontario-Michigan crossing in more than 60 years, the six-lane, 1.5-mile cable-stayed bridge creates a direct connection between Interstate 75 and Ontario Highway 401. Its 2,799-foot main span is the longest in North America.
The wider crossing includes 16 toll lanes and 60 US and Canadian inspection lanes, giving commercial trucks an alternative to the privately owned Ambassador Bridge. The Detroit-Windsor corridor handles about a quarter of US-Canada trade by value.
Bridge construction in North America began in October 2018. Pandemic disruptions and unforeseen conditions at the Michigan Interchange pushed completion past the original project goal of 2024. After crews attached the bridge deck in mid-2024 and installed the 216 stay cables, work moved to installation, testing and putting the systems into service before the July 27 opening.
The Bridging North America P3 consortium includes ACS Infrastructure, Fluor and Aecon. Its design and construction team included FlatironDragados, Fluor and Aecon, with AECOM as bridge design engineer.
More than 15,800 people worked 20.1 million hours on the project. Bridging North America CEO David Henderson credited the workers’ “work ethic, precision and collaboration” as the foundation of their success. With substantial completion achieved, the consortium now begins a 30-year term of operations, maintenance and rehabilitation. The free multi-use path is scheduled to open on August 5
